Anonymous post ratings do not work, and the system should either be changed such that raters are held publicly accountable for their ratings, or post ratings should be discontinued altogether.

Here I posted a link to a professional-quality video of two climbers doing one of the most famous and infamous routes of all time: the Bachar–Yerian—and it gets three votes, all one-star.

Enough is enough. Either hold people publicly accountable for their post ratings, or do away with post ratings altogether. The current system does not work.

Jay

I both agree and disagree. First, the rating system is doing what it was intended to do. The proof of it is all over the site.

To the rest of you...

However, it's also doing a few unintended things. One is the personal animosity thing Jay's talking about. The effect of that isn't, however, limited to Jay reaping the rewards of his post history. The other effect is that, occasionally, truly useful posts (of which Jay has many) get down voted and the info therein gets consigned to the Jay's-an-asshole bin.

If I had it to do over again, I would use a binary system (thumbs up/thumbs down) and hold people accountable for their ratings.

As an aside, say what you will about Jay's posting style. He knows his shit, and he isn't anonymous, which counts for a lot in my book. And frankly, when it comes to burying useful information under a pile of crap, I think the people who let him bother them are just as bad.

How do more star/less stars actually affect someone's legitimacy here?

I sort of see the stars like chalk on a route. That is, I don't see them any more. Lots of idiots chalk up holds that lead to nowhere, or in fear dab every possible foothold to the point you'd need 4 legs and 4 hands to use all the *beta* if you followed chalk...

Same with the stars. Looking to them for usefulness in divining the information in front of me is futile. Route-finding on RC.com = Reading Comprehension and Ability to Analyze.

Or - Maybe the Star system just DOES show the level of respect users here have for each other. Maybe someone should make a Sticky in the Beginners section - A Guide to Understanding the Star System as it Relates to the Popularity of Users Here

I don't use stars either to give praise or to give criticism. I certainly don't use them to judge quality of posts. It is a bad practice to trust stars in any way shape or form.

The only thing they do is remind me how petty people can be. For some reason I forget how shallow most people are, then some 1 star ratings remind me. Yup, still a lot of people here who lack basic self confidence.

I don't use stars either to give praise or to give criticism. I certainly don't use them to judge quality of posts. It is a bad practice to trust stars in any way shape or form.

The only thing they do is remind me how petty people can be. For some reason I forget how shallow most people are, then some 1 star ratings remind me. Yup, still a lot of people here who lack basic self confidence.

I don't use stars either to give praise or to give criticism. I certainly don't use them to judge quality of posts. It is a bad practice to trust stars in any way shape or form.

The only thing they do is remind me how petty people can be. For some reason I forget how shallow most people are, then some 1 star ratings remind me. Yup, still a lot of people here who lack basic self confidence.

I don't use stars either to give praise or to give criticism. I certainly don't use them to judge quality of posts. It is a bad practice to trust stars in any way shape or form.

The only thing they do is remind me how petty people can be. For some reason I forget how shallow most people are, then some 1 star ratings remind me. Yup, still a lot of people here who lack basic self confidence.

Outside of that depressing reminder, stars are and have been useless.

I gave you 5 stars since your name reminds me of a crappy breakfast if it's the only thing there is.

Obviously, a porn star needs a symbol for vote. Thumbs up or down don't seem to do this rating justice. Any suggestions???

Maybe a stiff and limp

Woah. What are you even talking about!? I get that there's some animosity towards Jay, but nothing else!

I was kinda hoping after a couple beers I would at least get the porn star connection......but, alas, no luck. guangzhou, that's almost a Majid-worthy post, except I am still assuming you were drunk posting

Jay, I understand what you are saying but a star or a series of stars does not make me want to read someone's posts. I'm sure others are in the same boat as I am. If I see that there is an interesting title written by an individual on the board who has a history of high end posts I click on it and read it.

Not kissing your ass here but there are few posts that I overlook of yours. There are others here that rank with me this way too.

I do like the idea that you have of holding raters accountable for their star ratings. Regarding stars, if someone does not rate a post does that mean that they think it's a shit post or does it mean they possibly just don't rate post at all? Maybe in order to post a reply you should have to rate any thread including the accountablity problem/issue

Regarding stars, if someone does not rate a post does that mean that they think it's a shit post or does it mean they possibly just don't rate post at all?

The related ambiguity (in theory, at least) is whether one star means slightly good (like in a guidebook) or terrible (like a movie rating). The alternative system, using just thumbs up or thumbs down, would solve both ambiguities.

Regarding stars, if someone does not rate a post does that mean that they think it's a shit post or does it mean they possibly just don't rate post at all?

The related ambiguity (in theory, at least) is whether one star means slightly good (like in a guidebook) or terrible (like a movie rating). The alternative system, using just thumbs up or thumbs down, would solve both ambiguities.

Thumbs up/down works for me. There could also be a minimum number of votes before the results are displayed so that a few random haters do not show up if otherwise there's not much feedback.

I don't know if rc.com rolled their own software or if it's some off the shelf stuff, but limiting display of rating with more than N feedbacks seems like a trivial change, so maybe it can be done first. Thumbs up/down is not hard, but it's way more involved.